Arizona unemployment figures improve

Phoenix, AZ – The state finally got some really good news today about theeconomy. Arizona Public Radio's Howard Fischer reports.

New figures from the state Department of Commerce show thejobless rate dropped four tenths of a point between October andNovember, to 8.9 percent. That is the first time since June therate has been below 9 percent. But Aruna Murthy, the agency'sdirector of economic analysis, said she's not ready to declarethat the worst is over.

"I think it's too early to call. We need to have those numbersobserved over a couple of months before we can actuallyconfidently say that we have hit the bottom or not."

But Murthy said one good sign is that the employment servicessector added about 2,500 jobs in November. These reflect thethose who work for temporary help firms.

"What that's telling me is employers are initially going fortemporary workers to hire the workforce. Down the road they maychange that to permanent or continue to keep them as temporary.That's hard to say."

Murthy said that number is in some ways a leading economicindicator: Firms start out by bringing on temporary workers untilthey're sure they can support full-time employees. Not all theeconomic news about Arizona is positive. The Bureau of EconomicAnalysis reported that state personal income -- the total dollarfigure of what everyone in Arizona earns -- declined slightlybetween the second and third quarters of this year. Only sixstates had larger drops.